Eugene weekly., July 22, 2004, Page 14, Image 14

E & J’s Mos Faded Urban Barbershop
Everyone’s a brother at E & J’s Mos Faded.
On Jan. 15, 2003, Elijah opened his barbershop at 960 W. 7th Ave. in Eugene. It’s a small two-chair, hole-in-the-wall that Elijah shares
with barber and friend Jason Thompson, catering mainly to the black community. From Mos Faded Elijah runs a small clothing line
and a hair care products company, and he lives in a modest apartment beneath the shop with his two sons and his girlfriend Merryl.
A white man running a black barbershop is a unique concept in a state known for timber and an unusually high number of
churches per capita, and creation of such a shop in itself is a bold maneuver.
“He’s the best guy I’ve seen, black or white,” says UO tight end football player Tim Day, about the cuts coming out of Mos
Faded, “It think it’s great. In a place like Eugene, you don’t usually find someone who can cut like we did back at home, like Las
Vegas or California. You can’t get the type of styles, a regular fade or shaping, blinding you up the way you want, but Eli’s hip
Elijah’s cell phone buzzes from its resting place next to the
medicine cabinet, under scissors and hanging clippers. He grabs
for it the same way he grabs for the world, in one of many thou-
sands of quick swipes, and turns back to the boy, “You want
some pomade in that?”
“You know I do, brother,” says the kid, in a voice suddenly
aged with confidence and dignity, looking at his father who nods.
ew
“You know I do.”
For more information about river surfing, E & J’s Mos Faded Urban
Barbershop, or just to contact Elijah to go river surfing, go to
www.surfrivers.com, www.mosfaded.com or e-mail Elijah Mack at riversurf-
prez@surfrivers.com “I’ll take you river surfing!” Says Elijah.
‘ . . . you can come in and I can make you look like Brad Pitt,
or if a black man comes in I can make him look like Denzel Washington.’
– J ASON T HOMPSON , E & J' S M OS F ADED U RBAN B ARBERSHOP
TODD COOPER
to all the new cuts and everything. Most of the people out there, they don’t know the type of cuts we like. I went in there, he
already knew what I wanted.”
Elijah greets everyone who walks into his shop better than you greet your own family. His forward, gregarious and coaxing
manner makes the son that stands behind the father’s legs step out from the shadows. He makes everyone feel like The Champ;
posters of Ali fill the barbershop walls. And, interestingly enough, he makes the odd white client feel comfortable, out of his or her
element, in the city’s rare room where one might not understand the quickly slung and sometimes bigger-city colloquialisms.
UO athletes fill blanks in Elijah’s appointment-book and plastic chairs while they wait, and coach Ernie Kent says, “where to
get your hair cut comes up in recruiting and I’m happy to be able to tell athletes about Mos Faded.”
“There’s nothing like this in all of Oregon,” says Jason Thompson, who’d been cutting hair in Portland without a license for
about a decade, “just for the simple fact that a white guy and a black guy can come to the shop for an excellent cut by the same
person. Usually you got just black men cutting black men’s hair and white men cutting white men’s hair, so it’s always been kind
of segregated. But you can come in and I can make you look like Brad Pitt, or if a black man comes in I can make him look like
Denzel Washington.”
Elijah talks to me while leaning over a black barber’s chair, his concentrated eye watching closely as he slides clippers up the
back of a young boy’s head. The child’s generously-sized father is poured over the armrests in the next chair over, talking loud-
ly into a cell phone. He holds a palm over the mouthpiece of the phone for a moment and applauds the fade Eli’s cut into the hair
of his 8-year-old son. A large print of Elijah making a sick drop off Big Rock is blown up in the background.
“Boy … you is hooked up!” The Father hollers to his son.
That’s Elijah living one of his childhood dreams vicariously, I smile. The child smiles too, smiles despite his best efforts to
keep it cool. Too cool, in his plastic cape. Too cool, just like Elijah, covered in tattoos.
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Eugene, Wave of the Future
The WRSA seeks to build and promote a stationary-wave park in Eugene and has begun dialogue with the city.
Steve Johnson, on the Mayor’s Parks, Recreation and Open Space Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee, says “There’s got to
be some way to work this out. Some version of what Elijah’s interested in can be created.”
Here’s a short list of existing stationary-wave technologies:
Waveloch – With installations in Durbin, South Africa, and San Diego, Waveloch shoots 100,000 gallons of water per minute up a
curved, padded wall, resulting in a thin, quick wave for “flowboards.” Drawbacks: Muy costly, and we want surfboards!
www.waveloch.com
Jump Hydraulic — “That’s a technical term for a circulating hole,” says kayaker Corran Addison. Placed in a river, “the water basi-
cally jumps over a rock. The problem is that people building these sites for kayakers don’t know their asses from a hole in the ground,”
says Addison. Drawbacks: Unpleasant sounding, biologically confusing, but still viable if designed with user input.
Tube6 — Created by physics and engineering students in Munich, Germany, this barreling wave is still a prototype. With plans to
build a full-size wave by the summer of 2005, Tube6 is a deep, full wave for surfboards. www.tube6.com Drawbacks: Doesn’t exist yet,
but sounds and looks sick.
Diversion — Water is channeled from a water source, then pooled and released in sufficient quantity over a contoured human-
made river bottom, creating a controlled, enthusiast-designed wave. Drawbacks: The only thing drawn back’s the water, holmeslice!
“It’s not so far away from what Park Planning already has in mind for the river,” says Johnson. “The Alton Baker master-plan envi-
sions more use out of the Willamette. Getting the kayaking element involved will be important.”
The WRSA wants a wave built especially for surfers. By that, Elijah means everyone, including kayakers.
“Whether you’re surfing, body-boarding or kayaking, laying down or standing up, it’s all surfing.” Says Elijah. “The WRSA promotes
the concept of a wave park for everyone who wants to be involved and get amazing rides.”
One kayaker, Tim Patrick, also the Youth & Family Services Manager in charge of City Pools and the Outdoor Program, says “I think
it’s a remarkable idea. The WRSA is going along in the right manner, contacting the agencies that would be involved in the project,
getting them on the same page. They need to talk to the main
players with a common interest, and get their planners and engi-
neers to look at the idea to decide the most feasible option finan-
cially, environmentally and mechanically, and then acquire fund-
ing.”
About options, Johnson says “I don’t think it’s impossible. If
costs could be kept below approximately $200,000, the park
could be built from existing park monies outside of bond meas-
ures.”
The WRSA is also applying for a Lane County Development
Grant, “which is typically given,” says Johnson, “when you can
project a resulting economic stimulus to the city. When you’re
building an attraction such as this, it’s very plausible that you’re
going to attract people to Eugene.” The WRSA is suggesting
$50,000 as the grant amount for creating some type of standing
wave.
Going to the city, the county and the state may be the best
route for the WRSA to attain their wave park.
“The city is more likely to get on board if someone else is
matching their funds,” said Johnson. “That way they can claim at
least partial ownership to something bigger than they could
afford on their own. Bringing more players to the table makes it
more complicated on one hand, but it might make it easier as
well.”
Strap your booties on Eugene, a wave park may not be far away.
— Ben Fogelson
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14 JULY 22, 2004